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Opinion on D-Coordinator

There were some rumors before about some changes being made to the coaching staff after the season. The only coaching position that I could think of that would seem justifiable would be D-Coordinator. (Mel Phillips is retiring anyway - so secondary coach is obvious).
The reason I say this is because Smith, while he has been in the league a while, he is pretty inexperienced as the person calling the shots for the entire defense. While it's widely believed that Saban is the one truly pressing the defensive buttons, I somewhat disagree. There is no doubt that the defense is being ran (or an attempt is being made at it) how Saban wants it to be ran. And there is plenty of communication during the games and all that. But there were quite a few questionable calls during the year that cost us ALOT of big plays through the air. Granted I realize that our secondary was weak. But this is what makes me question some of the defensive play calling and makes me wonder if perhaps Saban was miffed by some of the calls. Specifically, the blitzes. It seems that the vast majority of the times we blitzed, we were unsuccessful and it left our already weakest area in an even bigger disadvantage. My thougts are, would you not try to cover up your weakness as opposed to expose it? This happened alot and ultimately cost us a lot of points and alot of big plays. Now I do also recognize that the defense had it's limitations and that coaches have to do the best they can with what they have to work with. BUT, since we led the league in sacks and broke a team record, you would have thought that more emphasis would have been put on pressure from the front four and less emphasis on blitzing LBs who help in shorter coverages. When the LBs are not there for the short passes, such as crossing routes, it forces our safties to play up and as a result, leaves our corners one on one deep. I questioned this all season.
I do know that Saban loves to blitz. But I also feel confident that Saban knows better than to expose the team that way. So who is responsible? I think Smith is. I think he made alot of bad calls at inopportune times that cost the defense and the team. Now this is just my opinion and I'm sure there will be plenty of disagreement. But I'm sure some will agree as well.
Keep in mind also that Saban, after a year in the league, probably realizes that he can't spread himself so thin. Of course he will be involved in all aspects of the game. But how involved can he be, in depth at each position and each team (offense, defense, special teams, and individually). I think Saban needs, and may want, someone he feels he can trust better with running the entire defense as a part of his philosophy without having to constantly keep ties on him. Just some random thoughts. Hack away or agree or add your own thoughts..

i believe that smith is a great d coach. our ineffective blitzing is to do with our olbs. spragan is a good blitzer who puts pressure on will. seau used to be good at it but he is getting too old! zach is ok at blitzing. crowder has problems shedding blocks.
Smiths use of bell is great aswell. he has the tied record for sacks in a season by a DB. our defensive line has a record high 30 passes defended. our defense has a record high 49 sacks. we have constantly improving rookies thanks to the coaching of Smith. his play calling can be improved but i do believe that some of his plays where we gave up big yards are suspect but this is the same with all coaches! most the plays where we gave up big yards was due to player error miamis tackling gave droughns the 75yd run. our tackling gave pittman his big run. shulters falling over has given up up big plays aswell

i believe that smith is a great d coach. our ineffective blitzing is to do with our olbs. spragan is a good blitzer who puts pressure on will. seau used to be good at it but he is getting too old! zach is ok at blitzing. crowder has problems shedding blocks.
Smiths use of bell is great aswell. he has the tied record for sacks in a season by a DB. our defensive line has a record high 30 passes defended. our defense has a record high 49 sacks. we have constantly improving rookies thanks to the coaching of Smith. his play calling can be improved but i do believe that some of his plays where we gave up big yards are suspect but this is the same with all coaches! most the plays where we gave up big yards was due to player error miamis tackling gave droughns the 75yd run. our tackling gave pittman his big run. shulters falling over has given up up big plays aswell

It was 50 sacks. Also, I'm not complaining about when we ran corner blitzes. Usually we did that well because we took away there quick underneath passes with our LBs and our corners were able to get to the QB quickly, enabling the safties to roll up in coverage. But when we blitzed LBs and Safeties, we failed miserably - pretty much everytime. And that's the issue. We did it so much and failed at it most of the time, yet those blitzes would be called in critical situations and we'd end up on the short end of the stick. Our blitzes were predictable, coming almost all on 3rd downs. This is a huge reason our opponents 3rd down conversion % was VERY high.
AS for Droughns run and Schulters tripping: that has absolutely nothing to do with the play calling.
Our 50 sacks are moer attributed to talent than coaching. Taylor, Holliday, Bowens, Carter...these guys have always put up above average sack numbers. SO us breaking the team sack record is nice...but hardly a huge surprise.
You discuss our defensive line alot in your retort about what I said in the original post. I have no complaints about the performance of our D-line. I have complaints about the play calling that exposed, even more, our weakness - which is our secondary.

It was 50 sacks. Also, I'm not complaining about when we ran corner blitzes. Usually we did that well because we took away there quick underneath passes with our LBs and our corners were able to get to the QB quickly, enabling the safties to roll up in coverage. But when we blitzed LBs and Safeties, we failed miserably - pretty much everytime. And that's the issue. We did it so much and failed at it most of the time, yet those blitzes would be called in critical situations and we'd end up on the short end of the stick. Our blitzes were predictable, coming almost all on 3rd downs. This is a huge reason our opponents 3rd down conversion % was VERY high.
AS for Droughns run and Schulters tripping: that has absolutely nothing to do with the play calling.
Our 50 sacks are moer attributed to talent than coaching. Taylor, Holliday, Bowens, Carter...these guys have always put up above average sack numbers. SO us breaking the team sack record is nice...but hardly a huge surprise.
You discuss our defensive line alot in your retort about what I said in the original post. I have no complaints about the performance of our D-line. I have complaints about the play calling that exposed, even more, our weakness - which is our secondary.

It was 49 sacks durning commerical the refs took the first sack away. I think because there were no yards lost. So we finished the season with the Dolphins getting the team record of 49 sacks...

It was 50 sacks. Also, I'm not complaining about when we ran corner blitzes. Usually we did that well because we took away there quick underneath passes with our LBs and our corners were able to get to the QB quickly, enabling the safties to roll up in coverage. But when we blitzed LBs and Safeties, we failed miserably - pretty much everytime. And that's the issue. We did it so much and failed at it most of the time, yet those blitzes would be called in critical situations and we'd end up on the short end of the stick. Our blitzes were predictable, coming almost all on 3rd downs. This is a huge reason our opponents 3rd down conversion % was VERY high.
AS for Droughns run and Schulters tripping: that has absolutely nothing to do with the play calling.
Our 50 sacks are moer attributed to talent than coaching. Taylor, Holliday, Bowens, Carter...these guys have always put up above average sack numbers. SO us breaking the team sack record is nice...but hardly a huge surprise.
You discuss our defensive line alot in your retort about what I said in the original post. I have no complaints about the performance of our D-line. I have complaints about the play calling that exposed, even more, our weakness - which is our secondary.

I think it as to do more with the nickel corner who was burned 1.2 seconds into the play so the QB could zero in on him and complete the pass at will

Look for Saban to hire Dean Pees, the Patriots' LB coach. He was Saban's DC at both Toledeo and Michigan State. Saban wanted to hire him last off season but the Patriots wouldn't let him talk with him until after the post season. Since Saban wanted a staff in place sooner rather then later, he had to go in another direction but now Pees' contract is up. Pees wasn't too happy with the Pats after they didn't let him interview for the Miami DC position and then they promoted Mangini to DC instead of him.

Look for Saban to hire Dean Pees, the Patriots' LB coach. He was Saban's DC at both Toledeo and Michigan State. Saban wanted to hire him last off season but the Patriots wouldn't let him talk with him until after the post season. Since Saban wanted a staff in place sooner rather then later, he had to go in another direction but now Pees' contract is up. Pees wasn't too happy with the Pats after they didn't let him interview for the Miami DC position and then they promoted Mangini to DC instead of him.

pees would have been a good pickup in '05, but bill b. wouldnt let him out of his contract. he seems like the best and obvious choice for the fins DC in '06

There were some rumors before about some changes being made to the coaching staff after the season. The only coaching position that I could think of that would seem justifiable would be D-Coordinator. (Mel Phillips is retiring anyway - so secondary coach is obvious).
The reason I say this is because Smith, while he has been in the league a while, he is pretty inexperienced as the person calling the shots for the entire defense. While it's widely believed that Saban is the one truly pressing the defensive buttons, I somewhat disagree. There is no doubt that the defense is being ran (or an attempt is being made at it) how Saban wants it to be ran. And there is plenty of communication during the games and all that. But there were quite a few questionable calls during the year that cost us ALOT of big plays through the air. Granted I realize that our secondary was weak. But this is what makes me question some of the defensive play calling and makes me wonder if perhaps Saban was miffed by some of the calls. Specifically, the blitzes. It seems that the vast majority of the times we blitzed, we were unsuccessful and it left our already weakest area in an even bigger disadvantage. My thougts are, would you not try to cover up your weakness as opposed to expose it? This happened alot and ultimately cost us a lot of points and alot of big plays. Now I do also recognize that the defense had it's limitations and that coaches have to do the best they can with what they have to work with. BUT, since we led the league in sacks and broke a team record, you would have thought that more emphasis would have been put on pressure from the front four and less emphasis on blitzing LBs who help in shorter coverages. When the LBs are not there for the short passes, such as crossing routes, it forces our safties to play up and as a result, leaves our corners one on one deep. I questioned this all season.
I do know that Saban loves to blitz. But I also feel confident that Saban knows better than to expose the team that way. So who is responsible? I think Smith is. I think he made alot of bad calls at inopportune times that cost the defense and the team. Now this is just my opinion and I'm sure there will be plenty of disagreement. But I'm sure some will agree as well.
Keep in mind also that Saban, after a year in the league, probably realizes that he can't spread himself so thin. Of course he will be involved in all aspects of the game. But how involved can he be, in depth at each position and each team (offense, defense, special teams, and individually). I think Saban needs, and may want, someone he feels he can trust better with running the entire defense as a part of his philosophy without having to constantly keep ties on him. Just some random thoughts. Hack away or agree or add your own thoughts..

dont be surprised if we make an attempt at dom capers...he runs the 3-4 better than anyone. matter of fact he is another dave wannstedt. great defensive coordinator terrible head coach...